A LOOK AT THE MILKY WAY GALAXY ( TMNT : Guide to the Universe )

HUMAN FEDERATION, THE The "Federat," as it is often called, controls a huge volume of the galaxy. In cubic light years human space is actually greater than the Triceratons’. In terms of actual stars and planets humanity controls is less than a fifth of Triceraton numbers, because human space is father from the crowded galactic hub. Humans call their government a "Federation," a name which fits as well as "Republic" on the Triceraton domain. Any remains of a political system that encouraged political participation have been obliterated by the military council. Generals have taken the place of planetary presidents and governors. And military law is now the only law. It was the war with the Triceraton Republic that started the military’s rise to power. Gradually, as more and more attention was focused on the war and war production, the political government was transformed into a military one. What remains of the government in the Human Federation is little other than the law of the gun. As a race, humanity is younger, weaker, less experiences and technologically inferior to the Triceratons. Still, where Triceratons must steal their advanced science from ruins and other races, humans have the ingenuity to make advances of their own. And, though the military government of the Human Federation is every bit as autocratic and unprincipled as the Triceratons, humans are willing to make alliances when it is convenient. This attitude of treating every power as a potential ally has paid off very well for the Federat. Not only are the non-Triceraton borders secure, but certain other interstellar governments are joining the attack on the Triceratons. In addition, the Federation is able to buy advanced spaceships, ’toids (robots), and weapons from some of the more exotic neighboring civilizations. Aliens are largely ignored in the Human Federation. Although they outnumber the humans by about 30 to 1 (not counting D’Ants, which would make it about 3000 to 1), the aliens are not considered "citizens," only "residents." However, the aliens are not badly treated. Other than taxes, and the occasional unjust arrest, there are really no disadvantages for aliens. Virtually any kind of intelligent alien can be found on a Federation world. It is unknown what connection there is between the humans of the Human Federation and the identical humans of Earth, which is a considerable distance away from Human Federation space. General Blanque, in charge of the Federation military on the planet D’hoonib, in the Sidayon System of Federation territory, had his troopers chase down the Turtles and the Fugitoid, in an effort to gain the secret of the Transmat device that could be used against the Triceraton Republic (TMNT Vol. 1, #5).

MERMEN A race of near-extinct, intelligent, humanoid fish people. The Turtles first encountered their kind when, after a raft trip, they discovered a female of the mermen race (a mermaid?) dying of radiation sickness crawling to shore. They attempted to help her, but she died nonetheless. The matter was complicated when four mermen, thinking the Turtles to be her murderer, appeared and fought them. They eventually relented and took the body of the female merman back into the sea (TMNT Vol. 1, #29). When exploring the sewers a considerable amount of time later, Leonardo found himself ambushed by another female merman, Rhanna. Knocked unconscious and embedded into the wall, Leonardo was nearly fed to Rhanna’s gigantic turtle companion, the Terrorpin. He managed to subdue Terrorpin, then discovering Terrorpin’s lair, an egg within it. Both the Terrorpin and Rhanna were slain in the end, though Rhanna managed to protect the Terrorpin’s egg (TMNT Vol. 2, #4 & 5).

T.C.R.I. (Techno-Cosmic Research Institute) Dummy corporation in New York that was a front for the Utroms’ true purpose: the construction of a Transmat Device that would allow them to transport back to their homeworld. (See Utroms)

TRICERATONS In the minds of their neighbors, they are really an empire that covers the entire central region of the Milky Way Galaxy, a huge interstellar domain. They are saurian creatures, possibly genetically similar to the Earth species of dinosaur, the Triceratops. Tough and aggressive, they are entirely herbivorous (plant eating), and have a high sense of loyalty to their race. Part of the reason for the Triceratons’ aggressiveness stems from a cosmological phenomenon occurring in the heart of their region of space. There is a region of destructiveness that is gradually spreading out from the hub of our galactic spiral. The exact cause of this stellar disaster is not known. The Triceratons deny any problem and laugh off the idea of a killer Black Hole. However, many stars in the region have gone nova, and there are accounts of refugees arriving at the outer Triceraton worlds. The best evidence of the galactic holocaust are the Triceratons’ asteroid homeworlds. Hugh asteroids are outfitted with gigantic ion drives and become mobile cities and military staging grounds for the expanding Triceraton empire. Special asteroids are dedicated to factories, universities, research centers, and even arens for sporting and gladitorial events. The Triceraton Republic is now engaged in an ongoing conflict with the Human Federation ("Federat"). A border region consisting of thousands of square light years has each side jockeying for position. Currently, the open warfare has subsided, as both sides continue searching for a weakness or a weapon to solve the impasse. There are many reasons for the success of the Triceratons. First is their eagerness to adopt new technology, and their willingness to change their tactics accordingly. A specific technological strengths that the Triceratons have exploited thoroughly is their atmospheric adaptability that allows them to self-mutagenically breathe otherwise unsuitable air. Some Triceraton agents take Xemorene, a highly addictive stimulative drug that increases speed and efficiency of the nervous system, the withdrawl effects leading to heart failure and death. In the aftermath of the Turtles’ accidental transportation to Triceraton space (during which time the Turtles competed in a combat tournament against four Triceratons in a "Tri-Sports" bout, then took the Triceratons’ Prime Leader hostage) upon their breaking into the TCRI building, three were accidentally transported along with the Turtles back to Earth (TMNT Vol. 1, #6 & 7). While one of them was captured by DARPA (TMNT Vol. 2, #9 - 13), and another, Zog, went into hiding in the sewers until Raphael discovered him prior to the Turtles’ second confrontation with Shredder (TMNT Vol. 1, #19 & 20), the third transported Triceraton remains unaccounted for. After their accidental sojourn into Triceraton space and D’hoonib, the Turtles were invited back to the TCRI homeworld, where they were reunited with Fugitoid. Almost immediately after they arrived, Gavat-4 Station, an outpost that had a Transmat link directly to the Utrom homeworld, fell under heavy Triceraton attack. The Turtles agreed to help them, transporting themselves to the station and self-destructing it (TMNT: Guide to the Universe, Shell Shock). When the Turtles persued DARPA in search of their brother, Raphael, missing after a conflict with a then-cyborg Dr. Baxter Stockman, they soon found themselves facing a Triceraton invasion in Nevada. The cityship that made up the invasion force (it followed the Turtles’ transportation signal from when they were accidentally transported there), falling apart from its long space voyage from Triceraton space, attempted to ram and decimate the Earth by slingshooting around the sun and engaging full Impulse Speed. This attempt, however, was presumably stopped by Louis Braunze’s extraterrestrial-captured "inter-phasic cannon," which he planned to use to move the Triceraton cityship out of phase, causing it to then harmlessly pass through Earth’s outer crust and re-solidify in the molten core, vaporizing the gigantic vessel (TMNT Vol. 2, #13). During his three year stay in the sewers, the Triceraton Zog had evidently begun construction of a Triceraton aircar that Donatello would later discover and complete, then remodel (TMNT Vol. 3, #2 & 10). Eight Triceratons Transmatted to Earth when Leatherhead and his Utrom friend Dr. X tested their second attempt to build a working Transmat Device to get him "home" to the Utrom homeworld on Leonardo. The Triceratons had been looking for the Turtles for some time, and seized the opportunity to send a commando led by Captain Zak. Leonardo nearly killed one of the eight Triceratons with their own firearms, though Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Leatherhead, and Dr. X had to escape from harm's way. Lured by the homing beacon sent from the Turtles' aircar, Captain Zak has one of his Triceraton commandos translocate to the signal, appearing directly on top of the aircar as Donatello unsuspectingly pilots it home with Horridus/Sara. The Turtles managed to fight the Triceraton invasion to its climax, with the invaluable help and savage force of Leatherhead, who, along with the last Triceraton standing, was transmatted away to parts unknown (TMNT Vol. 3, #19 - 21).

UTROMS The aliens who run the mysterious facility known as the Techno-Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI) in New York are highly intelligent, short, brain-like creatures whose natural means of mobility is by the stubby cilia on their undersides. On Earth, they used humanoid robot bodies to get around with more ease and with which to interact with the human population. The aliens fit into the abdominal cavities of these robots and control them from there. Masters of robotics, the Utroms have developed a variety of "walkers" to increase their strength and speed. The humanoid form is gradually replacing the older, more traditional Utrom quadruped robot. There are also specialized robot forms for the heavy construction and for precision technical work. Their Utroms are reclusive by galactic standards. Their combination of pacifism and devotion to scientific research has kept them out of the mainstream of civilization. They have explored and colonized over a large volume of space, but always abandon their possessions rather than risk exposure to more aggressive races. Within the last hundred years or so they have been pressured by the expanding Triceraton Republic, and have retreated from many of their colonies and outposts. The aliens are not hostile and are repulsed by the idea of injuring any living being. To deliberately kill an intelligent creature is totally beyond them. A craft carrying a hundred Utroms was sent to Earth as an expedition to observe the planet and its dominant life forms, though a critical malfunction in its drive system upon entering its atmosphere caused it to crash land, nearly destroying it and killing two thirds of the crew. These Utroms had been stranded on Earth for thirty years and only in the last two decades had human science and technology progressed to the point where it was advanced enough for the aliens to utilize it in making the Transmat device which they used to return them to their homeworld (TMNT Vol. 1, #7). As a young alligator that found its way into the sewers, Leatherhead was found and taken in by TCRI Utroms. In the TCRI building he was accidentally exposed to the same mutagenic compound that mutated the Turtles, causing him to become sentient and grow to an enormous size. When the TCRI self-destructed their building when their presence became discovered, Leatherhead was left homeless and alone (Tales of the TMNT #6). It was one of their canisters of waste material (being shipped by truck to a disposal site) that accidentally started the Turtles’ mutation. The glowing ooze that the baby Turtles crawled around in was actually a mutagenic microbial agent, a by-product of one of the aliens’ experiments at producing organic circuitry. Fifteen years after their mutation, the Turtles stumbled onto the TCRI building, immediately remembering the insignia from the broken container Splinter had shown them. Going inside, they found their master held in stasis by the Utroms. Thinking him dead, they assault the Utroms, accidentally activating their Transmat Device and warping themselves trillions of light years away to the planet D’hoonib. A while later the Utroms were able to transport the Turtles back, though they unwittingly brought three Triceratons with them. After dealing with the Triceratons, SWAT teams were preparing to invade the building. Setting the Transmat Device to self-destruct after it transported them to their homeworld, the Utroms escaped. The Turtles, having no choice, followed afterward. From the Utrom homeworld the Turtles were transported directly into their New York home (TMNT Vol. 1, #4 - 7). A short time afterward the Turtles were invited back to the TCRI homeworld, where they were reunited with Fugitoid. Almost immediately after they arrived, Gavat-4 Station, an outpost that had a Transmat link directly to the Utrom homeworld, fell under heavy Triceraton attack. The Turtles agreed to help them, transporting themselves to the station and self-destructing it (TMNT: Guide to the Universe, Shell Shock). When the TCRI building had self-destructed, one of the Utroms, Dr. X, didn't make it to the Transmat Device in time and was left behind in the wreckage of the building. Leatherhead found Dr. X and looked after him in the following years. Dr. X met Leonardo and Michaelangelo prior to the testing of Leatherhead's second Transmat Device that led to a second Triceraton invasion (TMNT Vol. 3, #19). Dr. X presumably helped Leatherhead construct his two Transmat Devices, though was not seen when Leatherhead recruited members of the Foot and the Turtles to finish up the first Transmat Device he created (TMNT Vol. 1, #45, TMNT Vol. 3, #19). Dr. X, with Donatello's help, constructs an android exoskeleton for himself (TMNT Vol. 3, #23).